Songs of the Raven
by Aislin of the Shadows
Summary: A collection of my Phantom inspired poetry, about hate, regret, despair, and every emotion permeating Erik's mind...and my mind... The title is just what I dream of naming a poetry book if I ever write one.
1. Phantom

Disclaimer: I don't own Phantom of the Opera or any of the songs that I may parody here, but each and every one of these poems is mine. Please respect that.

To hold everyone over until I can begin an actual fic (I have several in the works), I will be posting my Phantom inspired poetry (which I write in the hopefully-well-known white spiral from The Hate of His Life). Most I didn't realize were Phantom related until I'd poured my emotion out onto the paper and then reread it. The first few I have entered into a poetry contest and may be published. I'll let you know if they win. :) This one has a pretty dull title, and isn't really my favorite. Keep in mind that I'm harder on myself when it comes to poetry. Also remember that my poems almost never rhyme. Does emotion rhyme? Heheh.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Spirit, darkness shrouds your face  
I am darkness  
Is it I who conceals you so?

Forgive the cruelty of man  
Their minds are small  
They cannot understand a soul like yours…

I want to love you  
I understand you  
Why do I turn away?

I hate the world for abhorring you  
I hate myself  
Open your heart to me!

I sing my sorrow and joy for you  
My soul is yours  
I want to be one with you…

Forgive us all, we know not what we do  
Please, let me love you  
Your song is my life, don't let me die.

"Holy angel in heaven blessed,  
My spirit longs with thee to rest…"


	2. Mask

Here's another, just because I have the time. This one is more inspired by an inanimate object than by a person or feeling. You all know the central object I'm talking about. The mask. Also note that the 'you' in these poems in humanity in general, not necessarily Erik. So I'm talking to you. That's right, you, the reviewer.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Hide yourself away from the world  
Save yourself the pain  
No one knows who you really are  
Life is but a masquerade.  
When your mask is removed,  
The world is shocked  
You aren't what they expect  
Why show yourself at all?  
Joy over sorrow,  
Sorrow over joy,  
One never knows  
How you really feel.  
Someone can seem like one thing  
And be a completely different one.  
Do you see the irony?  
Why live at all?  
I wear a mask of life  
Over my face of death.


	3. Music

This one's more abstract than the first two – it's basically my view on the effect of Erik's music on the world and people around him.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Softly entwining itself around my body  
How can you escape its ensnaring tendrils?  
Those notes that mesmerize the mind…  
Feel the power of music's life!

Silver melodies fall like rain,  
And white harmonies float on the wind,  
Golden songs shine down from the sun,  
Black chords arise from shadow…

Sense the fragile tunes on wind,  
Grasp the rhapsody in the earth,  
Watery symphonies that hypnotize,  
Fiery operas in angels' voices…

Let the music take you away  
It dwells within all of us…  
You may feel the music in your soul,  
But the music _is_ my soul.


	4. Decision

I'm having a horrible problem with my disks and can't open any old documents, so I can't update as much. Anyway, here's another poem I retyped for the time being. It's from Christine's point of view, basically wondering about the question that has tortured phangirls for years…Erik or Raoul? (As if you have to think for the answer…)

oOoOoOoOoOo

One, a bright shining light of love,  
The other, a creature of dark obsession…  
The adoration of both…  
How am I to decide?

For one, great love and adoration,  
For the other, such pity and compassion…  
So familiar with the hearts of both…  
How am I to decide?

Part of me wishes to turn to shadow,  
But the other desires to bask in the light…  
I want so much to love them both…  
How am I to decide?

Angels in heaven, demons in hell,  
I'm trapped in the silence between them…  
Why must they both want me so?  
How am I to decide?

I fear that I am merely a child,  
Afraid of the dark of the night,  
And so I must follow the light of the sun,  
I choose light, I abandon the darkness.


	5. Watching

I wrote this one in my English class on Valentine's Day – we had to make a valentine for someone, and she told me that it didn't have to be a real person. Naturally I wrote about Erik. Interesting V-Day anecdote – I decided early on that Erik was my valentine, and if I were to receive any sign of POTO throughout the day, it would signify that he was wishing me a happy Valentine's Day. Well, late at night, my father let me choose a flower from a bouquet he'd gotten my mom to keep for myself. It was a perfect, long-stemmed red rose. I don't need to tell you that it's a POTO trademark.

This is not one of the poems entered in the contest.

OOoOoOoOoOo

I watched your shape from the shadows,  
I hear your voice in the night.  
Show me that I have not watched you in vain,  
Brighten my darkness with love's starry light.

The rose of our love is a dangerous thing,  
Piercing my heart with its poisonous thorn,  
But its beauty is joy for both our souls  
As it blooms in the dewdrop spattered morn.

In the silence that wraps the darkness of night  
I catch the music you sing for me,  
And following its echoing, ethereal sounds,  
You lead me to shadow, where only you see.

Time and again you've told me love is blind  
There must be a reason you wish this to be true  
So ignoring the mask that shields your face,  
I follow, I love, I sing only for you.


	6. Music of the Night

This is really more of a parody than a poem. I rewrote the lyrics of Music of the Night to reflect the emotions of the listener. It's not from Christine's POV…truthfully, it's my POV. …Well, who _doesn't_ imagine Erik singing to herself? Also, I was basing this off of the version of MOTN on the highlights CD, so I swear I thought I had come up with the around/surround rhyme on my own. I didn't know that MOTN on the two-disc soundtrack already used it. I really thought it was original, I wasn't copying. Just thought I'd clarify.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Darkness falling,  
Shapeless phantoms dancing,  
Sunlight dies,  
The truth of night revealing…  
Lay down, but don't sleep, you  
Must let the darkness keep you  
Here, away from searing, shameless light…  
Deep within the music of the night…

Bring me, take me,  
Let me hear your song…  
Sing now, play now,  
Quick, night isn't long…  
Please don't turn away,  
There's just one thing you must say,  
"Come with me, don't think about what's wrong or right,  
Just listen to the music of the night…"

Listen close – I can hear the angel singing now…  
All I want is to stay within this dream,  
All I need is the music in my soul,  
But the music is never what it seems…

Swiftly, surely,  
Darkness will surround me…  
Hold me, love me,  
Wrap the song around me…  
Yes, I trust you deeply,  
Say you'll always keep me  
Let me listen, I won't need my sight…  
Let me hear the music of the night…

Listen close – take me where no one has ever been,  
Let my soul fly among the stars in space  
Your song lets my abhorred mind feel like new,  
And my soul forever belongs to you

Drifting, dancing,  
Silently descending…  
Yes, I trust you,  
The music heav'ns transcending…  
Let my dream begin,  
Let the shadows now come in,  
In the darkness which I know now not to fight…  
The darkness of the music of the night…

Let me help you make your song take flight…  
I live just for the music of the night…


	7. Heart

This poem really wasn't really Phantom inspired, but it does seem to reflect emotions Erik might have towards Christine. Not loving emotions, but rather, a feeling of the knowledge of the pain within him. Tell me if you think it's totally irrelevant to POTO, and I might take it off. This poem wasn't originally from Erik's POV. It was just a random thing that walked out of the Angst department of my mind one day. In an airport. That's right. I was in Washington D.C waiting for a plane.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Don't touch it, no,  
Do you _want_ to hurt me?  
You've already inflicted enough pain  
Upon my poor heart.

Don't say it, no,  
Are you _trying_ to make me cry?  
You've already wrung enough tears  
Out of my poor body.

Don't take it, no,  
Do you _want_ me as an empty shell?  
You've already stolen enough  
From my poor soul.

I'll do it, yes,  
You don't want me around, do you?  
Then I'll leave you alone  
Say goodbye to my poor life.


	8. Lonely Child

Great news! This phic was nominated for the POTO Reader's Choice Phanphiction Awards! I was so happy when I got the notice in my email. Who nominated me? I'd like to know. But even if you don't tell me, I'm still happy. Happy enough to post another poem, in fact. Anyway, this one is a parody as well – this time to Angel of Music. Think of it as a bit like Wandering Child. I thought this up when the almighty question arose in my mind one night in my bedroom – what if the Angel of Music came singing to me right now? How would I reply? Well…like this. The lines in italic are Erik's, the others are mine, and the last two stanzas are sung at the same time.

oOoOoOoOoOo

_Poor lonely child,_  
_So sad, so silent,  
__Begging for love…shelter..._

_Now, lonely child,  
__Look up, and listen  
__I am a friend…waiting…_

Tell me, oh bodiless singer,  
Who are you, where are you from?  
I need the song of an angel  
Angel, swiftly come!

_Angel of Darkness,_  
_Yes, it is me,  
__Telling you I'm here  
__Angel of Shadow,  
__I will guide you,  
__Glorious, dark angel!_

Angel of Darkness,  
Yes, it is you,  
Telling me you're here  
Angel of Shadow,  
Never leave me,  
Glorious, dark angel!


	9. Alone

Well, I didn't win my poetry contest. None of the twelve poems I sent won. Oh well. I hope I do better in the Phanphiction Reader's Choice contest. Will everyone who reads this please vote for me! The link is www (dot) freewebs (dot) com/phanphicawards. Hurry, voting ends this Wednesday.

Anyway, this poem is actually a song. I just haven't set it to a melody yet. But it will be written in its lyrical form of 'verse verse chorus verse chorus verse'. Note that the chorus, marked with an exclamation point, is two stanzas long, so the one with the asterisk and the one after it make up the chorus. As for the interpretation, just let me say that sometimes I feel very similar to Erik in the way I live my life.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Shadow surrounds us  
I pull it close to myself  
No one realizes we are here  
We don't even see each other

Darkness of night  
Do you sense me here?  
I know you are there  
Standing beside me

! But nobody seems to notice us  
Your all-seeing eyes can't see me  
I want you, I need you,  
But I am alone

We have been exiled from light and life  
Deep in this pit of sorrow and tears  
They hate us, they shun us,  
So we are alone

And even here  
I long for your touch  
I feel you, barely there  
Are you watching me?

! And nobody seems to notice us  
Your all-seeing eyes can't see me  
I want you, I need you,  
But I am alone

We have been exiled from light and life  
Deep in this pit of sorrow and tears  
They hate us, they shun us,  
So we are alone

I need you, but you don't know me at all  
You also abandon the world above  
Remove your mask, show me your face  
You aren't alone…  
You are never alone…

As you vanish into shadow  
I will follow…


End file.
